U.S. Open a homecoming for two skaters

Professional skateboarder Omar Hassan practices Wednesday for the U.S. Open of Surfing skate contest in Huntington Beach. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 7

Professional skateboarder Christian Hosoi practices for the U.S. Open of Surfing skate contest in Huntington Beach. Hosoi grew up skating in the area, and lives here now. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 7

Christian Hosoi, right, passes a hat back to a fan after signing it while practicing for the U.S. Open of Surfing skate contest. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 7

Christian Hosoi takes a break from practicing Wednesday for the U.S. Open of Surfing skate contest to spend a moment with his sons, Endless, 4, left, and Classic, 6. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 7

Crowds at the U.S. Open of Surfing create a dust storm Wednesday in Huntington Beach. MICHAEL GOULDING, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

1 of 7

Huntington Beach skater Christian Hosoi, who rose to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s, will compete in the skate contest at the U.S. Open of Surfing this weekend in Huntington Beach. COURTESY OF VANS

1 of 7

Costa Mesa skater Omar Hassan will skate this weekend in the contest at the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach. COURTESY OF VANS

U.S. Open of Surfing skate contest

The top 10 skaters will immediately go to the semifinals Sunday, while the other 30 vie for that placement in Saturday’s qualifiers. Everyone who makes the semifinals gets a payout, even though it’s only $500. The winner will get $25,000.

Skate qualifiers: Saturday, 4 to 6 p.m.

Skate semifinals: Sunday, 1 to 2:30 p.m.

Skate finals: Sunday, 2:45 to 3 p.m.

*all events take place at the concrete skate bowl

When pro skateboarders Christian Hosoi and Omar Hassan compete in front of local fans at Huntington Beach this weekend, the crowds will cheer a little louder because it’s a homecoming for the two icons.

Unlike so many other skate contests they compete in across the country, at the U.S. Open of Surfing they can roll out of their own beds and drive their own cars to a contest just down the road.

It’s also something of a nostalgic trip for Hosoi, 45, who grew up in Huntington Beach, lives there now and who has been skating at the Open since riots shook the contest in the mid 1980s.

“It’s almost like re-living my childhood and the heyday of me skateboarding for the first time and getting on TV and getting in the mainstream,” Hosoi said.

A lot has happened – and changed – since then.

Hosoi had a success-studded early career, where he was considered a rival of Tony Hawk, despite their differing styles. But his life started to unravel after he got into drugs in the 1990s. He was captured by law enforcement in 2000 at the Honolulu airport trying to smuggle nearly 1.5 pounds of crystal meth from L.A. into Honolulu.

He served four years of a 10-year prison sentence, during which he turned his life around. He’s now 13.5 years sober, the outreach pastor at The Sanctuary church in Westminster, and he has a family and kids.

Now he views himself as something of a caretaker of skateboarding. He wants to preserve the sport and give back to it all that it gave to him, so it can be passed on to future generations.

Most of all, he doesn’t want other kids to make the same mistakes he made.

“There are so many kids that have so much talent, but the partying lifestyle takes them out. That’s what I did. But I was lucky because I’d already made my mark,” Hosoi said. “They just get swallowed up by the lifestyle, the partying, the girls. It looks good, it feels good, it feels right, but then your window of competition passes you by.”

Hassan’s story is a little different.

The Costa Mesa native, 39, didn’t get into the same sort of trouble. He didn’t rise so fast nor fall so far. Rather, he’s been sponsored by the same company, Vans, for two and a half decades.

Hassan is looking forward to this year’s contest since he’ll be skating in his favorite type of environment: a concrete skate bowl. Previous years, the U.S. Open only had a wooden bowl.

When he was younger, skaters were testing bowls in backyards, along with skating in the streets, on rails and often down the boardwalk between Huntington to Newport Beach.

“You really had to go renegade and figure out who had the spots,” Hassan said. “It was a really different scene. If you were really into skating you had to search it out a little bit.”

Both Hassan and Hosoi consider Orange County and the greater Los Angeles area to be the epicenter of skating, and it’s not just the perfectly pleasant weather year round – though that plays a role. The area, particularly the city of Huntington Beach, embraces skating and surfing, said Hassan, and that attracts the athletes. And, athletes can do three board sports – surfing, skating and snowboarding – in one area.

But there’s a certain energy, too.

Hosoi returns to Huntington Beach when he wants to be challenged in his skating. Something about the mixture of skaters and people pushing each other to perform at their highest level keeps him coming back.

“When I want to get back to the drawing board for skateboarding, I want to come back here to Orange County, the L.A. area, because here is where I’ve always been creative,” Hosoi said. “They’re always pushing the bar, pushing the cutting edge, and you got to keep up.”

Though Hassan is happy to perform in front of family and friends this weekend, he says it can be a little anxiety-inducing.

“It’s always nerve-wracking at the same time because when you’re here, they all want to talk to you,” Hassan said. “I have a lot of friends and family in the crowd so whether I do (well), they’re going to be excited for me. But I just want to do (well) for myself.”

User Agreement

Keep it civil and stay on topic. No profanity, vulgarity, racial
slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about
tragedies will be blocked. By posting your comment, you agree to
allow Orange County Register Communications, Inc. the right to
republish your name and comment in additional Register publications
without any notification or payment.